


A Subtle Rebirth

by Cordelia Clay (HGalbertson)



Series: The Adventures of the Starling and Nightingale Caravan [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: No Romance, No Sex, No Smut, Original Character(s), Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 14:04:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15708717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HGalbertson/pseuds/Cordelia%20Clay
Summary: A caravan with a certain young female dwarf songstress passes by a landmark on the Glory Run Road many years after Mollymauk Tealeaf's passing.The first part of the Critical Role Campaign 2 NPC focused fic I've made with original characters of mine inserted into the world of Exandria (on the continent of Wildemount).





	A Subtle Rebirth

“I made the earth remember him” said Cadeuces Clay, his voice resonating in its usual low and soft certainty. “Something will be here.”

He stood and returned to the group of mourning misfits standing in the snow. They stood there and spoke little more after witnessing the painful cries of Yasha before she walked eastward out of sight.

It wasn’t long before the rest of the Mighty Nein walked into the distance, their brief murmurings following them. The ground beneath their feet seemed unforgivingly cold and damp as they trekked towards the carts. And with the wind scraping against their cheeks, they left behind the one spot in the wintered ground that might have been warm. Their eyes clinging to the horizon, it was as if they somehow knew that the further they went that day, the colder they would feel.

But over the seasons, the snow would melt and return, leaves would grow, change color and fall to the ground along the Glory-Run Road. Many more wagons would pass by the sorrowful landmark. And when the odd passer-by cared to look close, they’d see next to a decaying cross adorned with a fabulous coat and amidst a small scattering of richly colored wildflowers, a sapling beginning to stretch it’s way into the air.

Decades later, a colorful caravan of strange people road along the Glory-Run on their ricketty wagons. A raven-haired tiefling with skin the color of powder-pink roses headed the first in the train alongside a young dwarvish woman with golden hair wrangled into a long braid. The young dwarf woman looked along the hills and mountains with an weariness in her eyes that a dwarf her young age had no business having.

“We’d best stop for a moment soon or the twins will start complaining again,” the tiefling woman said with a clear, crisp accent that poured out from the Northern wealth of the Dwendalian Empire. She signalled to the caravan with a few waves of her hand, and tugged the reigns, instructing the huffing horses to pull over alongside a small hill surrounded by felled trees.

“I think I’d like to go for a walk, anyways,” replied her companion.

“Please, don’t go too far. We're approaching some unsavoury territory coming so near the edge of the Empire.”

“I’m just going to look around, Corinna--Don’t worry.”

“Pardon me if I’d miss my lovely, young, hard-headed friend were she to somehow disappear!” Corinna yelled out after the young woman, who responded with a laughing shake of her head.

Walking through the sun-warmed spring grass still damp from an early morning dew, the young dwarf woman sauntered down the slope to a bed of blooming wildflowers. It wasn’t until she neared its foot, that she saw the looming shadow of a great hazel tree. It’s leaves shown teal in the cool sunlight, with their veins and edges the color of wild plums. She watched the light bespeckle the grass as it danced between the leaves blowing in the breeze, and she breathed deeply. Her mouth stretched into a grin as the smell of rich, spiced fruit wines filled her lungs. There was something familiar about the spot, though the memories that it touched were worn and withered like a threadbare doll.

She stepped forward into the circle of flowers, the leaves and grass rustling in the wind. And for a moment she could have sworn she heard a laugh and saw the glint of a wry, fanged smile. She hadn’t thought about them for so long. It warmed her, surprised her that she hadn’t forgotten things that had come to pass so long ago. As she remembered the beautifully embroidered coat sitting on the shoulders of a very old friend, she sang to herself a piece of song she’d written for them.

“Darkness is nothing to fear my dear,

Just as visions are never too clear.

Long before our paths intertwined,

We had to leave something behind.”

She wondered if they’d heard it in the taverns in Zedash, yet. It had become quite popular there, several years back.

“Toya? Toya!”

Toya turned to see Corinna leaning out of her cart and waving.

“We’ve got to get going if we want make good time. We’re still a ways from Nogvurot!”

“I’m coming!” Toya shouted, stumbling towards the front cart of the Starling and Nightingale Dancers and Songstresses caravan.

“What took you so long?” Corinna asked as she helped Toya into the cart. “I thought you weren’t going far.”

“I got caught up in the scenery. It reminded me of someone.”

Corinna looked wryly at her young friend. “Oh? Who?”

“I’ve told you about them before, the one we wrote that song for…”

Their words trailed off into the distance. Behind them, the miraculously immaculate coat of Mollymauk Tealeaf sitting on the shoulders of a worn cross swayed in the wind behind an immense hazelnut tree.


End file.
